Confessions Spectacle, the new novel by Gabriel Guillet

After “Macao Men”, a very promising first novel, Gabriel Guillet is back with a new book dedicated to the world of reality TV: Confessions Spectacle.

The Pitch: Victor Zanelli is a man of mystery: famous reality TV presenter and producer, ladies’ man, charmer, liar, manipulator, fascinating. That’s how Agathe, a young psychiatrist, feels when Victor comes to her office for therapy. Intimidated and unsettled, she gradually becomes obsessed with her strange patient. How far will her obsession go? What exactly is Victor looking for in consulting her? And what if the more observant of the two isn’t the one you think? A novel full of tension and manipulation, where the reader finds himself as torn as the characters he follows.

Interview with Gabriel Guillet

Gabriel Guillet / DR

Why did you become interested in the world of reality TV?

Contrary to what one might intuitively think, reality TV is a very literary theme! Characters, closed-door situations, lighting effects, scenarios, madness… I took great pleasure in writing about television, which is undoubtedly the “medium” that rocked my generation in the years 1990-2000, and about reality TV, which was the most innovative, striking and subversive concept. And I like the idea of the confrontation between the character of a reality TV presenter and a young psychiatrist…

Is the main character inspired by a real man?

That would be too simple. Obviously, I’m sponging off influences, and some people may imagine familiar faces, but there’s no single model. What’s more, the main character is a presenter, producer and creator of reality TV concepts: he’s a TV megalomaniac. However, I was slightly inspired by a man who is little known in France, but who is surely the most important figure in reality TV in the world, John de Mol (the “Mol” of the “Endemol” company). I encourage readers to find out more about this giant.

Have you read up on the subject?

Not so much, as I listened to some of the anecdotes from people in the “business”. I like to do this when I write. Listening to stories, anecdotes, affairs, expressions… All this material is teeming and has given me a base from which to work on the novel. As for the rest, I let my imagination and my ideas do the work to build the plot.

Is this an indictment of reality TV?

Absolutely not. I can clearly see the drifts and perversions of such a system. But my role as a novelist is to imagine a story and let readers wander through an imaginary world. I have no pretensions to being the judge of elegance. To say what you should do, believe or watch on television! If reality TV is such a success today, it’s surely because it’s a much more complicated phenomenon than it seems… All that said, I find the subject fascinating. And romantic!

Confessions Spectacle
Gabriel Guillet
Daphnis Chloe

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